In Greek mythology, Circe or Kírkē (Greek Κίρκη, falcon), was a
Queen goddess (or sometimes nymph or sorceress) living on the island of Aeaea.
Circe's father was Helios, the God of the Sun and the owner of the land where Odysseus' men ate cattle, and her mother was Perse, an Oceanid; she was sister of Aeetes, the king of Colchis and of Pasiphaë and Aga. Circe
transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals through the use of
magical potions. She was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs.
Woodcut of
Circea in a German translation of
Boccaccio's
De claris
mulieribus, Ulm
ca 1541
In Homer's Odyssey, her home Aeaea is described as a
water mansion standing in the middle of a clearing in a dense wood. Around the house prowled lions
and wolves, the drugged victims of her magic; they were not dangerous, and fawned on all
newcomers. Circe worked at a huge loom.[1] She invited Odysseus' crew to a feast, the food laced with one of
her magical potions, and she turned them all into pigs with a wand after they gorged themselves on
it. Only Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn
Odysseus and the others who had stayed behind at the ships. Odysseus set out to rescue his men,
but was intercepted by Hermes and told to procure some of the herb moly to protect him from the same fate, and that, when he had resisted the potion, to draw his sword and act
as if he was to attack Circe. From there, Hermes told Odysseus that Circe would ask him to bed, but to be wary, because even
there, the goddess would be treacherous, and would take his manhood, so he should have Circe swear by the names of them gods that
she would not. For one year Odysseus and Circe were lovers. She later assisted him in his quest
to reach his home.
According to Homer, she suggested to Odysseus two alternative
routes to return to Ithaca: either toward the "Wandering Rocks" (possibly the pumiceous Lipari
Islands; in the 13th-century Chinese travel notes of Chou
Ju-kua they are called similarly), where King Aeolus reigned. Or, to pass between the dangerous Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, conventionally identified with the
Strait of Messina.
Towards the end of Hesiod's Theogony (1011f) we find
that Circe bore of Odysseus three sons: Agrius (otherwise unknown), Latinus, and
Telegonus who ruled over the Tyrsenoi, that is the Etruscans.
Later poets generally only speak of Telegonus as Odysseus' son by Circe. When grown to manhood, later poets reported, she sent
him to find Odysseus, who had long since returned to his home on Ithaca, but on arrival Telegonus accidentally killed his father. He brought the body back to Aeaea and took
Odysseus' widow Penelope and son Telemachus
with him. Circe made them immortal and married Telemachus, while Telegonus made Penelope his wife.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1.72.5) cites Xenagoras the historian as claiming that Odysseus and Circe had three sons:
Romus, Anteias, and Ardeias who respectively founded three cities called by their names: Rome,
Antium, and Ardea.
That Circe also purified the Argonauts for the death of Apsyrtus may be early tradition.
In later tales Circe turned Picus into a woodpecker for
refusing her love, and Scylla into a monstrous creature with six dogs' heads when
Glaucus (another object of Circe's affection) declared his undying love for her. She had one
daughter: Aega.
Modern interpretations
Snowdrop, perhaps the herb
moly
Medical historians have speculated that the transformation to pigs was not intended literally but refers to anticholinergic intoxication. [1] Symptoms include amnesia, hallucinations, and delusions. The description of "moly" fits the
snowdrop, a flower of the region that produces secondary metabolites that can counteract anticholinergics.
Epyonyms
The phrase "Circean poison" has been
used to refer to intoxicating things, such as applause.[2]
Derivatives
Nathaniel Hawthorne retold the story of Circe in his Tanglewood Tales.
In Stephen King's short story The Lawnmower
Man, a supernatural lawnmower man uses the exclamation 'By Circe!' and is a follower of Pan.
In the second book of the epic poem The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser based Sir Guyon's antagonist Acrasia on Circe; both are witches who change the form of
their victims into lower animals such as swine.
Circe appeared in the cartoon Ulysses 31 where she attempted to build a tower that
would house all the knowledge of the universe, which would make her more powerful than the gods.
In DC Comics, Circe is a constant and deadly foe of Wonder Woman.
Carol Ann Duffy wrote a poem entitled Circe.
In James Joyce's Ulysses, chapter fifteen
is known as the "Circe" episode, where Circe's equivalent is the character of the brothel madam, Bella Cohen.
In Ernest Hemingway's early novel The Sun Also
Rises, Robert Cohn refers to the Lady Ashley as Circe, saying she "turns men into swine."
In Toni Morrison's Song of
Solomon, Circe is a character who assists the protagonist's homecoming.
In John Myers Myers novel Silverlock,
Circe turns the main character into a pig due to his affinity for food and fornication.
Circe is also mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone, as a famous witch, and in A Great and Terrible
Beauty (Libba Bray) as one of the characters.
In Rick Riordan's novel, The Sea of Monsters Circe lures Percy and his friend into a magical trap, and Hermes rescues
them.
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